HARWICH — The Cape Cod Commission issued unanimous support on Thursday when nominating for consideration the West Harwich District of Critical Planning Concern. The commission’s next step will be to conduct a public hearing to consider such a designation. As part of the nomination, the commission concluded that there is a need for special planning and regulations to preserve or maintain values and resources in...

HARWICH – Having epilepsy can mean long stays in the hospital, but comfy socks can help. This is something Cole Strzepek knows all too well. But the last time he was at Children's Hospital in Boston, their sock supply was nearly gone, with Cole getting one of the last pairs. Soon, a plan for procuring more socks was hatched, though neither Cole nor his family had any idea just how successful it would become. ...

HARWICH — The town will be facing difficult decisions on how to move forward with its disposal of trash, were told selectmen on Monday night. ABC Disposal Services Inc. Vice President Michael A. Camara made clear that the cost of trash disposal will be increasing. He raised issues relating to the ability to find ways to dispose of municipal solid waste (MSW) as landfills close across the state and internationa...

HARWICH — Four of the five members of the town’s bylaw/charter review committee resigned this week, leaving one member, Tina Games, remaining. Reasons for the resignations varied. “It’s time to do other things, it’s time to do other things,” Sandra Hall, the committee chair and chair of the town’s initial charter commission, said on Friday of her resignation. Hall said she told the members of the committ...

HARWICH — Hinckley’s Pond is looking a little brighter these days, after the injection of 77,000 gallons of alum and close to 40,000 gallons of sodium aluminate in an effort to reduce excessive phosphorus feeding algae blooms and fish kills. “The pond looks wonderful,” Natural Resources Director Heinz Proft said after the treatment was applied last week. “It’s a dose of medicine that will last a long time.” ...

HARWICH — The planning board has approved a 10-lot preliminary subdivision plan for Route 137 Development LLC, but East Harwich residents were more interested in a possible alternative use of the 12 acres between Chrisjobeth Circle and Sherwood Road. Town Planner Charleen Greenhalgh told those in attendance that there has been a “great deal of misinformation” about the plan. She made it clear it was not a 40B ...

PLEASANT LAKE — There’s never been a shortage of community support for Cape Cod Regional Technical High School, but thanks to its new charitable foundation, there’s a new channel for that support. The foundation will help students by providing scholarships and “toolships,” helping support graduates who are on their way to college or full-time employment. Each year, the school and its supporters award between $...

HARWICH — There is a “hard moratorium” in place on development and development permits in the proposed District of Critical Planning Concern along a stretch of Route 28 in West Harwich from just west of the Herring River to the Dennis town line. The moratorium puts a hold on any development activity in the proposed 43-acre district while the Cape Cod Commission weighs whether it will accept a DCPC nomination p...

HARWICH — When citizens, businesses and government come together to save key tracts of open space, almost nothing––not even a tornado––can stop the momentum. That was the message from Michael Lach of the Harwich Conservation Trust, who helped cut the ribbon Monday for the new Cornelius Pond Woodlands conservation area. “It takes a village to preserve priority lands,” he said. The 14.9-acre parcel off Queen ...

HARWICH — Educating residents about the costs and benefits of the regional Dennis, Harwich and Yarmouth Clean Waters Partnership will not be an easy task. But members of the subgroup seeking to bring the towns together to process wastewater in one treatment plant began that task last week. Members of the partnership and their consulting engineering firm, CDM Smith, Inc., conducted a public forum last Thursday ...

HARWICH — The board of health has approved regulations to curtail access to flavored tobacco products, including for e-cigarettes, allowing their sale only in three adult-only retail tobacco shops that will be permitted to operate in town. Harwich joins several other Cape towns, including Chatham, in banning flavored tobacco products in general retail outlets. The new health regulations allow a maximum of 1...

HARWICH — A Harwich woman is demanding answers after she was discharged from Cape Cod Hospital and received, with her own medical records, several pages of a stranger’s records. Shirley Dubois, 86, underwent a battery of tests at the hospital for two days earlier this month related to ongoing medical concerns. When she was ready to go home, a nurse handed her a manila envelope with around a dozen stapled pages...